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Turkish tanks cross Syrian border in military op to retake city of Jarablus from ISIS

Turkey has launched a ground incursion into Syria targeting Islamic State and Kurdish fighters near the town of Jarablus. Ankara says it wants to take the town to stop cross-border attacks, while the Kurds warn that Turkish troops will get into a quagmire.

“At 4:00 this morning, operations started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like Daesh [Arabic name for Islamic State] and the PYD [he Democratic Union Party of Syria],” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the military operation would be “short and results-based,” while insisting that it doesn’t violate international law.

The Turkish operation is focused on the Kurdish border town of Jarablus, which has been held by the Islamic State terrorist group since July of 2013.

The Kurdish Firat news agency (ANFNews) reported that 29 civilians have been killed by the advancing Turkish and allied troops so far. Some 3,000 ethnic Kurds have reportedly fled Jarablus and its neighboring areas since the Turkish operation became imminent. The Kurds object to the operation, believing it to be a ploy to prevent Kurdish militias from retaking the town.

Turkish-backed rebels are assisting the Turkish troops. Hours into the operation, Free Syrian Army fighters captured the village of Keklice located some three kilometers from Jarablus, Anadolu reported, citing military sources.

The operation, called Euphrates Shield, is being supported by Turkish air forces, as well as warplanes from the US-led coalition.

Turkish artillery began shelling targets across the Syrian border earlier on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing its own journalist on the scene. The agency said Turkish tanks can now be seen inside Syria and an intensive bombardment can be heard.

The launch of the ground offensive was confirmed by Turkish state news agency Anadolu, citing military sources.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the incursion had been prompted by cross-border attacks originating from Jarablus, stressing they “must stop,” according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.

Commenting on Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Kurdish fighters must remain east of the Euphrates River or Turkey will “do what is necessary.”

Turkish media reported earlier that IS had launched retaliation attacks into the Turkish border town of Karkamis after the violence around Jarablus escalated. Elsewhere in Istanbul, law enforcement reportedly conducted raids targeting suspected IS sympathizers, according to the Dogan news agency.

The Syrian Kurdish militia YPG attempted to retake Jarablus last year, but were reportedly prevented from doing so when Ankara threatened to intervene.

Damascus has condemned the Turkish incursion, with the Syrian Foreign Ministry calling it a breach of Syria’s national sovereignty, Reuters reported citing Syrian state television.

Turkey does not cooperate with the Syrian government and believes that it should be toppled.

“Damascus condemns the incursion of Turkish tanks into Syria under the cover of the US-led coalition,” the ministry source said, as cited by Syria’s Sana state news agency, adding that “fighting terrorism does not mean ousting terrorists form the Islamic State group and replacing them with other extremist groups supported by Turkey.”

Saleh Muslim, head of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), warned that the Turkish forces would get bogged down in a quagmire and ultimately be defeated.

Speaking to ANFNews, Muslim said that Turkey had gone from targeting Syrian Kurds through proxies to directly fighting Kurdish fighters in Syria on the ground, adding that while Turkey had made the decision to enter Syria, withdrawing would not be as simple.

Spokesman for the YPG, Redur Xelil, called Turkey’s move “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs.” Aldar Xelil, another influential Kurdish politician, accused Turkey of initiating an occupation of Syria, saying the operation amounted to “a declaration of war” on the autonomous administration set up by Kurdish groups in northern Syria in 2011.

The PYD believes that Turkey has launched its operation to prevent the Kurds from retaking it from IS, Salam Ali, PYD’s representative in Moscow, told RIA Novosti.

“Jarablus is located in the north of Kobani area and our forces advanced close to it. After the Kurdish troops took the city of Manbij we had plans to go in that direction. Apparently Turkey invaded from the North not to let the Kurds have this city,” he said.

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Syria calls on UN to ‘force’ Turkey to withdraw troops

The Syrian government has reportedly complained to the UN about Turkish troops on its territory and has asked the UN Security Council (UNSC) to end “Turkish aggression.” It follows a reported attack on the Syrian Army by Turkish forces.

The UNSC should “force Turkey to withdraw its invasion forces from Syrian land and stop the attacks,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said, as cited by the state-run Sana news agency.

The request came in letters addressed to UN Secretary General António Guterres and the chair of the UN Security Council, currently the UK, the agency said.

On Thursday, Damascus reported that one of its border guard positions near the city of Manbij in northern Syria had been shelled by rockets fired by Turkish troops.

A Syrian general speaking to Sana on condition of anonymity said the attack was “an attempt to stop the success and progress made by the Syrian Army, and backing forces, in its war against terrorist organizations and the affiliated groups, to restore stability and security to Aleppo countryside and the whole Syrian territories.”

Turkey launched a military operation in Syria in August 2016, saying it was necessary to fight the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and “Kurdish terrorists.”

Ankara considers Kurdish militias in Syria affiliates of a Turkey-based insurgency and has attacked them on numerous occasions throughout the Syrian conflict.

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Turkey is a puppet of Washington, the Vatican, Mossad and MI6 just like Saudi Arabia is. Last but not least for currency, energy and financial motives. As long and until they are useful in toppling Assad and any undesired, non compliant, Shiite Middle Eastern leader the West will turn a blind eye to the extremism going on in those two countries. Then it will all be reversed as soon as the deed gets accomplished

That said, Saudi Arabia is in a much worse state than Turkey, though anyone who refuses to acknowledge Erdogan's autocratic tendencies needs to wake up and smell the coffee